Pittsburgh colleges and universities will be able to expand efforts to prevent sexual assault on campus, thanks to thousands of dollars in state grants.
The It’s On Us grants given to Pittsburgh schools are part of more than $1.7 million awarded this month to 43 institutions statewide. The Shapiro administration has awarded nearly $5 million since 2023.
The national It’s On Us campaign was created under the Obama administration to raise awareness of sexual assault on campus, teach students to identify dangerous situations, and empower bystanders to intervene.
Grants include $40,000 to La Roche University, $40,000 to Duquesne University, $21,795 to Community College of Allegheny County, $40,000 to Chatham University and $50,000 to Carnegie Mellon University.
At the University of Pittsburgh, which received $43,725, educators plan to expand the Here to Help campaign, continue partnerships with local survivor advocates, hold focus groups, and offer more self-defense classes.
Carrie Benson, director of Pitt’s Sexual Violence Prevention and Education Office, said Here to Help shares resources through physical signs posted in bathrooms around campus. The grant will allow them to increase the amount of signage.
“So that students can engage with this information when they’re alone and can really, fully take it in without feeling any pressure from other people,” Benson said.
Benson said the office is also planning a campaign in which information is shared on coffee cup sleeves at the campus Saxbys.
Lead prevention educator Willa Campbell said a big focus for the office is cultural change, which includes communicating that sexual violence often happens within relationships. She said students come to campus with varying levels of sex education and understanding about consent and healthy relationships.
“And so with students especially who are navigating relationships, maybe very early in their adulthood, helping them to understand even more than just how they can set boundaries, but how can they respect other people’s boundaries?” Campbell said. “How do they actually communicate consent in their communications with each other and in their relationships with each other so that they don’t cause harm or hopefully don’t experience harm.”
Focus groups to engage male students will also be a big part of Pitt’s grant.
Campbell said male-identifying students often don’t feel comfortable in prevention spaces. The focus groups will help the office figure out how to get male students to feel “called in” to prevention work, rather than called out.
The office will use some grant funds to increase the number of trauma-informed self-defense classes through the group SETpoint. Benson said the course teaches boundary setting, bystander intervention, physical self-defense, and survivor support. There will be open sessions, as well as opportunities for student organizations to request private classes.
A 2019 survey found 16% of Pitt respondents reported being a victim of sexual misconduct. The percentages were higher for women at 26%, and for trans and nonbinary students at 29%.
Benson said the university has given her office $575,000 in seed grants since 2022 to ramp up prevention efforts. The office has grown from one full time staff person to two full time staffers and three part-timers, with 22 peer educators. She said Pitt partners with Pittsburgh Action Against Rape to bring advocates to campus once a week.
“Over the last few years, we’ve really seen a substantial scale up in the work,” Benson said.
Between 2022 and 2024, crime statistics reported by Pitt show instances of reported rape and dating violence on campus have declined.
Nationally, it’s estimated that one in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college, but most do not report the crimes. That can be due to stigma or because they don’t know where to go.
State Rep. Dan Frankel, who represents part of Pittsburgh and supported It’s On Us legislation in the 2019 state budget, said this round of investment keeps prevention and survivor support as a statewide priority.
“This is exactly what we envisioned — practical, on-the-ground efforts that help students stay safe and ensure survivors are supported every step of the way,” Frankel said.